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Friday, 22 May 2015

Adventures Underground with Alice ...

This week, First Born Child and I ventured out of Yorkshire in search of Wonderland and we found it, bizarrely enough, in Waterloo Station.

Or, more precisely, in the vaults beneath Waterloo Station where the cast and crew of Les Enfants Terribles are currently orchestrating adventures through Alice's Wonderland in honour of the 150th anniversary of Alice in Wonderland's publication

For 90 minutes, Child, aged 19, and I, a mere 50, were immersed in Lewis Carroll's nonsensical Wonderland world. Both of us felt six years old for the entire time we were there.

The aching feet and grumpy tiredness of a whole day of travelling and sightseeing was dispelled as we hurtled down the rabbit hole, explored shrouded turning corridors or tiptoed up twisting stairs and thumped back down them again. We burst into rooms and hurried out of rooms and scurried into rooms like children playing games.

There was even, and tell not a soul, a certain amount of skipping along gaily.

Or perhaps that was just me.

It would, I think, be entirely wrong to reveal much of what went on beneath Waterloo Station during our adventures (not least because of the actual skipping). Like Alice, to truly experience Wonderland you must see it for yourself.

What Les Enfants Terribles have created is a Wonderland; a carefully created, cunningly designed, beautifully crafted, fabulously costumed, sumptuously surprising and ever so slightly sinister, very real, Wonderland.

And it was an absolute joy to share it with them.

I may feel unable to divulge much of our experience underground for fear of spoilers but there are a couple of things that I might suggest if you were thinking of adventuring with Alice:

1: Do check in, as suggested, coats, bags and extraneous items at the cloakroom before your adventure..

2: Don't feel silly if you squeal and clap your hands in delight during your adventure. Everybody else wants to do that too.

3: When they ask what you want to drink at that Mad Hatter's tea party? Pick the vodka and cucumber. It definitely adds to the adventure. *Nods sagely*

Callooh! Callay!

Disclaimer: This not-quite-a-review has not been solicited or sponsored, I have written it because we had such a fabulous time.